Wednesday, June 14, 2006

US DOL Opinion Letter Addresses Mortgage Loan Officers' Right to Overtime

There has been significant litigation in Maryland over the rights of mortgage loan officers. Most of the litigation has focused on an individual's right to commissions that close after his or her employment terminates. I wrote about this issue here.

In addition, there has been litigation over whether Maryland loan officers are exempt from receiving either the minimum wage or overtime. One exemption that may apply is the outside sales exemption. A recent opinion letter issued by the United States Department of Labor applies the outside sales exemption to mortgage loan officers. Not surprisingly, the issue in these case is to the extent to which the loan officer "is engaged away from the employer's place of business." The opinion letter assumes that the loan officers work "primarily outside the employer's offices." Given that assumption, it did not take much for the Department of Labor to conclude the loan officers at issue are exempt outside salespeople.

If a loan officer performed most of his or her work in the employer's office, the result may likely be that he or she is entitled to the minimum wage and/or overtime.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

From a fan - brill stuff!!
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